"Come on!" Flame yelled, smoke coming out of his mouth. "It's a good plan!"

Glory shook her head vehemently. "If we pretended to be one of the working dragons we wouldn't have a clue what to do!"

"Scarlet knows most of the White Capes," Flame argued, "And they're not a very big organization."

"Have you guys come up with a plan yet?" Viper called from where she was sitting, picking at her claws.

"Maybe we would've if you'd help," Glory spat.

"Look, I'm not getting in the way of you two geniuses. You'd bite my head off before I could even say 'what'. Squid, Sunny, and I are perfectly fine staying out of it."

"I have ideas too!" Sunny complained.

"Suuure you do Sunny,".

Sunny sat and folded her tail around her legs. "Really!"

But Flame and Glory had gone back to arguing. "What if we sneak in as Scarlet's guards? We'd get straight to the prison, and we've read enough to be guardy. I can disguise as a SkyWing-"

"I am not being the prisoner," Squid said.

"Well, tough luck 'cause you have to be," Glory said tauntingly, and Squid flung Viper's lizard at her.

"Ay!" Glory said and threw it back. It hit Squid again, and he was about to toss it back.

"Oh no you don't," Viper said. "That's my lizard," and she started trying to pull it out of Squid's talons.

Flame and Sunny stared at each other. "I wish Clay was here," Sunny sighed.
Flame nodded. "Me too,".
***
Eventually, the dragonets managed to get together and come up with a somewhat working plan. Have the ones that could pass for SkyWings or SandWings fly in and scout the area and decide on the best course of action, and mostly observe guard protocol. Sunny and Squid were staying behind.

"I'm a SandWing," Sunny complained.

"Barely," Viper scoffed under her breath.

Flame was still getting used to how awesome the outside world was. He wasn't used to wind- it felt awesome to fly in but he couldn't help worry about what it could do. It seemed to come from nowhere, too. What if some evil animus dragon was making it to shake all the trees until they broke and died? And the sky was so big, Flame couldn't understand why any dragon would want to be inside. (But he found out why the next night, when it rained.)

Glory was staring at him. "What?" Flame asked.

"Changing," she said, which wasn't exactly reassuring until Flame saw her scales change to match his, albeit a bit more orangey around the snout and ears.

"Alright, c'mon, we're flying in," Glory said. "At least try to look high-ranking," she said to Viper, who was chewing up the lizard with her mouth open.

And so they flew up to hostile territory, up to the SkyWing palace.

The guards saluted when they flew in. "Password?" one yelled, and the dragonets exchanged nervous glances.

"Uhm, Queen Scarlet is the best and totally thrilling?" Glory improved. The guard nodded and let them through.

"That is one conceited queen," Flame whispered after they were through.
Viper nodded. "Amen to that."

"It makes her easier to predict," Glory said, her eyes steely.

"Look," Viper said, "There's benches near the prison hall, and all the dragons are heading to there. Let's sneak in." Flame and Glory angled their wings to land on one of the benches.

After all the dragons had come in, a dark red SkyWing stood in the center of the arena and clapped his wings together loudly until the audience quieted down. The dragonets looked at each other questionally. What's going to happen? The SkyWing bowed to Queen Scarlet. Flame's eyes blazed and he almost stepped out of his seat and went for her. Glory pulled him back down, glaring.

"After four wins," the dark red dragon announced, "Horizon the SandWing- formerly, and unwisely, a soldier of Blaze's army- has been challenged to a match with the Queen's Champion, Peril. Claws up, fire ready-fight!"

Flame paled, and a green tinge appeared in Glory's scales. They make their prisoners fight each other?

A copper SkyWing and a light, almost white SandWing faced each other. The SkyWing grinned, tilting her wings to reflect the sunlight. Her scales were steaming, Flame realized, and her eyes were a bright blue that no SkyWing should have. He guessed the strange SkyWing was Peril and the SandWing was Horizon.

Horizon backed up against the wall, eyes darting back and forth. Peril approached, still smiling. Horizon crouched, and then suddenly leaped over Peril's head and fled to the other side of the arena. He didn't attack on his way. It looked like a game of two-person tag, where Peril was it. Flame had played two-person tag before- sometimes it was a necessity when you only knew twelve dragons, and three of them were more likely to set you on fire or hit you with their tail then play. The dragonet being chased can't last forever.

Peril turned in a unhurried way and smiled at Horizon. Her confidence made Flame even more worried. A theory was starting to develop in his head, and he didn't like it.

Horizon suddenly turned and bolted for the tunnel. All at once, Peril was in his way, her claws raking across his side. It was only a scratch, but Horizon cried out in horrible pain, and Flame felt the sound reverberate through his head. Is this- is this what's happening to Clay and Tsunami and Ochre and Starflight and Fatespeaker?

Flame couldn't hold back any longer. He roared and flew to Queen Scarlet, slashing across her face. "Give me back my friends!" The queen hissed and yelled, and all of a sudden ten guards were on him, surrounding him.

Oops.

Sorry it's been so long! Hopefully this part is long enough to make up for it(1000 words). Remember to comment and vote, and thanks to those who already did!